ICAS-Accredited Degree Program
Doctor of Ministry in Spiritual Formation
D.Min. credential
Lead others into the historic practices of Christian formation, through a professional doctorate in spiritual formation.
Doctor of Ministry in Spiritual Formation: Your Grant Price
Applications are free. Eligible applicants receive their admission and Grant decision before any one-time program fee is requested.
Published tuition
$24,900.00
$649.00 Registry & Assessment Fee
$149
Doctoral Degree
2026 Life in Christ Grant is active
Ministry Experience, Evaluated Against Academic Standards.
Documented prior learning may be considered when it aligns with program outcomes; every credit decision follows academic review.
Program Overview
About this program
The Doctor of Ministry in spiritual formation is for leaders guiding congregations into prayer and holiness. Formation collapses into technique the moment it stops being theology. This ICAS-accredited Kingdom of Life University pathway holds the two together: sanctification, the classical disciplines examined at depth, prayer including dryness, spiritual direction and its boundaries, discernment, formation in community, and the particular spiritual hazards of a life in professional religion.
Competency-Based Ministry Assessment
Recognition of demonstrated learning in theology and ministry
Experienced ministry practitioners demonstrate competencies developed through years of service, theological study, and continuing learning. The assessment connects that learning with the published outcomes of the Doctor of Ministry in Spiritual Formation through biblical understanding, theological reflection, research, and ministry judgment.
70
Audited questions in this pathway bank
30
Questions drawn for each sitting
60 minutes
Time available for the knowledge component
24 hours
Interval before reassessment
Theological knowledge and degree outcomes
- Published bank title
- Doctor of Ministry: Spiritual Formation - Doctoral Competency-Based Ministry Assessment
- Credential
- Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) in Spiritual Formation
- Question construction
- 14 pathway subject-bank sources contribute 5 questions each, producing the complete 70-question bank.
How completion is reported
- The knowledge component contributes 40% and assessed ministry experience contributes 60% to one weighted result.
- The reported result is no lower than 80%, matching the 80% degree pass mark.
- Reassessment draws a fresh question set and is included in program access, with no additional fee or limit on sittings.
- The integrated assessment covers the published degree plan; separate course assessments, a capstone paper, and a dissertation defense are not required.
Program Objectives
What you will achieve
Integrate advanced theological inquiry and ministry judgment in service to the church and its mission
State the relation of grace and effort in sanctification
Practise and teach the disciplines without reducing them to technique
Offer spiritual direction within proper boundaries
Attend to your own formation as a minister
Learning Outcomes
Skills and competencies you will develop
Synthesize doctoral-level theological evidence, research judgment, and ministry wisdom for faithful leadership
Produce a theological account of sanctification governing your practice
Conduct spiritual direction sessions within a supervised framework
Design and lead a congregational formation programme
Complete a doctoral project evidencing formational change in a community
Career Opportunities
Where this degree can take you
Pastor of spiritual formation
Spiritual director
Retreat and formation leader
Formation instructor
Major Subject Areas
The fourteen subjects you study, and the ones the ministry assessment draws on
Foundational and Major-Core Subjects
Four foundations every pathway shares, then four that belong to this field.
Doctoral Seminar: Biblical Interpretation
Scripture read for formation at depth, including the older contemplative practices the academy trained out of the church.
Doctoral Seminar: Old Testament Theology
The Old Testament's formative rhythm of sabbath, festival and psalm, and a spirituality built on repetition.
Doctoral Seminar: New Testament Theology
The New Testament on union with Christ and the Spirit's work, which is the engine of any real account of change.
Doctoral Seminar: Christian Doctrine
The doctrine of sanctification, where grace and effort must be related without collapsing either.
Doctoral Seminar: Theology of Sanctification
A theology of sanctification, covering the relation of grace and effort and the accounts of holiness across the main traditions.
Doctoral Seminar: Classical Spiritual Disciplines
The classical disciplines examined at depth, covering their sources, their purposes, and the ways they are misused as technique.
Doctoral Seminar: Prayer and the Interior Life
Prayer and the interior life, covering the tradition's teaching on stages, dryness, and the honest treatment of unanswered prayer.
Doctoral Seminar: Spiritual Direction in Practice
Spiritual direction in practice, covering the relationship, its boundaries, its difference from counselling, and the director's own formation.
Specialization Subjects
Six more that take the field into the places it actually gets used.
Doctoral Seminar: Discernment and Testing of Spirits
Discernment and the testing of spirits, covering the tradition's criteria and the communal element discernment assumes.
Doctoral Seminar: Formation in Community
Formation in community, covering common life, confession, accountability, and the community's role in producing character.
Doctoral Seminar: Formation of the Minister
The formation of the minister, covering the hazards of professional religion and the gap between public role and private life.
Doctoral Seminar: Doctoral Spiritual Formation Project
The doctoral spiritual formation project, covering design, intervention, evaluation, and the written argument.
Doctoral Seminar: Spiritual Formation and Christian Vocation
The director's own formation, and the hazard of guiding others into a life you have stopped living yourself.
Doctoral Seminar: Integrative Theology and Ministry
A doctoral formation project in a community, designed and evaluated without reducing formation to a number.
Admission Requirements
What you need to apply
- Master's degree in theology, ministry, or a relevant field from an accredited or recognized institution
- Official graduate transcripts demonstrating advanced academic preparation
- Research statement identifying a proposed area of theological or ministry inquiry
- Scholarly or ministry-focused writing sample
- Current curriculum vitae documenting relevant research, church, or ministry leadership experience
- Three ministry or academic recommendations and a faculty interview
Degree Completion Requirements
Requirements for the Doctor of Ministry
Graduation Requirements
- Complete at least 60 doctoral semester credits in the approved degree plan
- Pass the Competency-Based Ministry Assessment for the degree
- Satisfy every doctoral-core, research-methods, specialization, elective, and Competency-Based Ministry Assessment requirement group
- Integrate theological knowledge with assessed ministry experience under the published result-weighting policy
- Recognize demonstrated learning against every published degree-plan requirement
Culminating Experience
Demonstrate doctoral-level theological synthesis, research judgment, and ministry leadership through Competency-Based Ministry Assessment, combining theological knowledge with assessed ministry experience.
Credit Distribution
| Requirement Area | Credits | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced Doctoral Core | 24 | 8 courses. Doctoral theory, disciplinary foundations, and scholarly leadership. |
| Research Design and Methods | 12 | 4 courses. University-wide doctoral preparation in quantitative, qualitative, measurement, and research-ethics competencies. |
| Area of Specialization | 15 | 5 courses. Focused doctoral inquiry supporting the learner's research agenda. |
| Doctoral Elective | 6 | 2 courses. Any doctoral-level major course from any school that is not already part of this degree plan. |
| Competency-Based Ministry Assessment | 3 | 1 course. Integrated doctoral theological knowledge and assessed ministry experience, recognizing demonstrated learning across the published degree plan. |
| Total Degree Credits | 60 | All requirements must be completed within the approved degree plan. |
Program Details
Program Length
Self-Paced
Self-Paced Learning
Total Credits
60 credit hours
Up to 30 Transfer Credits
Published Degree Plan
20 courses
Across 5 required curriculum groups
Format
Flexible Study
Assessment Format
Competency-Based Ministry Assessment
Selected Degree
Doctorate
School
School of Theology and Ministry
Institutional Status
ICAS Accredited
Ready to Begin Your Accredited Spiritual Formation Degree?
Applying costs nothing, and the work you have already done may count. Have a look at what this pathway asks for before you decide.